Conveyor assembly with screw conveyor are commonly used in a milling machine such as vertical abrasive type milling machine, having a milling chamber for polishing or whitening food grains, in particular rice grains. In the vertical abrasive type milling machine, the food grains to be milled are freely supplied from a food grain feeding system to the vicinity of the screw conveyor, through which the food grains are supplied to the milling chamber. These food grains are conveyed by the screw conveyor for milling or whitening action, which takes place in the milling chamber formed by abrasive roll assembly and cylindrical screen assembly. The screw conveyor is configured as a supply hooper for the milling machine and is driven by a drive to feed the food grains.
In the conventional milling machines, the screw conveyor is mounted on a main shaft extending vertically and directly connected to the main shaft. The food grains from the screw conveyor hits the abrasive rolls in the milling chamber and milling action takes place inside the milling chamber. The milled food grains are collected at bottom of the milling chamber and discharged through a discharge disk. The constant friction due to movement of the food gains in the screw conveyor, wears out the screw conveyor after certain period of time. The utilization of worn-out screw conveyor affects overall performance and efficiency of the milling machine, and therefore it has to be replaced after the specific time.
With respect to the conventional conveyor assembly of the milling machine, it is necessary to replace the worn-out screw conveyor with fresh screw conveyor, as there is no possibility to extend the lifetime of screw conveyor after it wears out. Moreover, the conventional screw conveyors should be used in single direction, as the screw conveyor is directly coupled to the main shaft. Further, the replacement of worn-out screw conveyor increases installation time and cost of the milling machine. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved conveyor assembly for a milling machine, which is capable of overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks. The present arrangement of conveyor assembly helps to mount and use the screw conveyor in both the direction by reversing the screw conveyor without effecting performance of the machine, which doubles the life of the screw conveyor.